Another trek to Tahoe

Last weekend we made up for our missed weekend in Tahoe and headed up to ski! While we received 10 straight days of rain, Lake Tahoe received 4 - 8 feet of snow! The news kept referring to the skiing as being an "epic" event because of all the fresh snow so we weren't the only ones headed up to ski!

Originally the forecast showed the weekend being sunny and clear but in fact it snowed on us pretty much the entire weekend!

We left our house at 6:30 am (didn't even know we could do that) and started what turned out to be a 5 hour trek...whew!

The snow was coming down and the roads were pretty bad...we made it just fine but were glad to see that everyone was taking it slow and they were really checking people for chains!

As you can see visibility was not that great!

Check out the exit sign!
More piled up snow on the road signs...that's a lot of snow for us Texans!

Once we made it over the summit we encountered traffic due to the "epic" event, but honestly it didn't bother us to have to sit because it is just so beautiful...a winter wonderland!

We made it to Homewood to ski for several hours...we switched skiing and sledding with Riley!

She even tried just sliding down the hill without her sled!

This girl loves the snow!

After a few hours of skiing and a snow bunny that hadn't napped AT ALL we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the South Shore to get some sleep...or so we thought!

Here are some awesome pics of the lake we took on our drive...pictures just don't do this place justice!

So we had a great hotel room with a fabulous view and a big comfy bed...too bad Riley decided that sleep was not for her! She was quite congested and that kept her waking every hour and then she decided that 4 am would be a great time to wake up and play...until 7 am when she crashed HARD and it was time for us to get up...oh my lord! We were literally in bed for 12 hours but felt like we hadn't slept a wink!

Luckily we had arranged for Riley to go to Kids' Camp while we skied at Sierra so we were able to ski together and she pretty much slept the entire time!

It was really snowing on Sunday and we had to make a detour to the ski shop at the ski resort to purchase goggles and neck warmers...we went down the mountain once without those items and it was brutal!

Here we are sporting our new gear!

We had a blast skiing and got several good hours in before the snow kept getting worse and we were ready to call it a day!

Here's what we found when we went to pick up Riley!

Poor pumpkin was pooped...I wonder why!

She couldn't even wake up enough to snap a picture with us!

This is all the snow that had accumulated just while we had been skiing!

Luckily the roads weren't bad going home and we made it back, grabbed dinner, and were unpacked by 8 that night...we have the one night trip mastered!

We have one more weekend planned with a big group of friends and can't wait to get back up there!

Some of my favorite things...

Sharing Hot Cocoa

This was the first time Riley tasted hot cocoa and it was definitely a suitable day!

We have had rain, rain, and more rain over the past week...actually I think 10 days straight...and it's been cold! What better way to enjoy that weather than with a warm glass of cocoa with your favorite little gal!

She wasn't quite sure what hot chocolate was but since it had the word chocolate in it she was convinced it was a good thing!

She dove right in and loved it!
She was so cute as she kept saying "hot...hot" because she felt the warmth on her glass.

We both drank all of our hot chocolate and she then began referring to it as coffee because I was drinking mine in a mug...so we actually shared some cocoa but in Riley's world we shared a cup of coffee...something I love to do with my girlfriends and especially my daughter...this was just the first cup of many that we will share together in the years to come!

Check out her chocolate grin...

Reading Our Bibles Together

Sometime last week Riley saw me doing my Beth Moore Bible study while she was playing in the bath tub...she quickly became more interested in what I was doing than eating the bubbles so I promised her she could get her Bible after bath time was over!

She received the cutest Bible from her Nani this Christmas and I just love how excited she is about it!

This Bible is written in a children's translation so it will be great when she's a little older...for now we still read her storybook Bible, but she wanted to have a Bible just like her Mommy so we sat together and did Bible study!

The hard part was keeping her from scribbling all over her Bible...she saw that I had a pen and was writing and well...monkey see monkey do! She actually told me she would "be right back" and ran into my office, got a pen from my desk, and ran back into the living room so she could write in her Bible.

This is just the beginning of our time doing Bible studies together...perhaps in the future we can do it over "coffee"

Doing Hair

It's pretty obvious that I LOVE doing Riley's hair...it's hard during the week because cute hair accessories don't go far at school and they never seem to come home with her...bummer! So I usually resort to piggy tails or a ponytail during the week, but no bows or barrettes until the weekend!

Riley is pretty good while I do her hair...watching an episode of her favorite show (either Caillou or Elmo) doesn't hurt either!

Lately she has been intrigued with doing my hair and of course I oblige!

I can't help but think back to a story from when I was young and had fun playing with people's hair...so I was playing with one of my parent's friends long beautiful brown hair and I decided it would be fun to use a roller brush and roll all of her hair...not a good idea! They ended up having to cut the brush out of her hair...sorry Alma!

I have had a few painful moments letting Riley play with my hair but all in all she's pretty gentle!

My hair definitely looked much better after Riley "styled" it!

And most of all...I love this smile!

These are just a few of my favorite things!

Play Play Play

Meet Riley the Diva...

Purse, cell phone, bling sunglasses...she's ready for school!

But wait...one more game of copycat with Bert and Ernie and then she'll be ready to go!
Riley is so much fun...I know I always say that but she just keeps getting more and more fun!

This past week we got to play at the park and she just makes friends right away with anyone her size that will play with her!

We were planning on spending the weekend in Lake Tahoe with some friends who have three kids...we kept going back and forth on whether we were going or not...finally we just decided we would leave EARLY Saturday morning and spend one night. Ultimately we knew Riley would have a blast hanging with the Bogart kiddos and that sealed the deal.

Our plans quickly changed when Jason got a call from work late Friday night...he has had a very busy week with all that has gone on in Haiti. It is so devastating and I can hardly watch the news without balling my eyes out because of the sweet sweet babies that need so much help.

Jason spend much of his three day weekend at work, but knowing that he could have a hand in helping these poor people made it worth the sacrifice.

We were able to get Miss M to babysit Saturday night so we had a date night...we ate Thai food and we saw the movie Up In Air. Jason spent much of our dinner on the phone for work but when we got in the car to drive to the movie he had received an email regarding the planes he had been working hard to get over to Haiti.

The first plane they sent last Wednesday carried a California Search and Rescue Team and they happened to be the first US Search and Rescue team on Haiti ground..they then went back to pick up a FEMA rescue team in Virginia, drop them off in Haiti, and with perfect timing were able to bring back 100 US citizens who had processed through the US Embassy and get them back on US soil. Jason had to work this weekend because they sent three more planes over the weekend. We just need to keep Haiti in our prayers...it will be a long road to recovery.

On Sunday we went to church and Riley went to big girl church...she did great!

They had lollipops for her when she left...we tried to hold out until after lunch to give them to her but she had a *minor* meltdown so she got one before lunch and one after!

She had a blue mouth and tongue and when we got home I wanted to show her what she looked like in the mirror...so cute!


I just love this picture...doesn't get any better than two Riley's in a picture!
We had a lazy Sunday afternoon...Jason had to go in for a few hour and then we ordered pizza and snuggled in to watch the season premier of 24...we have been hooked from the beginning! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to continue to watch this season once Jason deploys...partly because it sort of scares me if I'm home alone and partly because it is just our thing to watch together!

Monday was a holiday for Jason and Riley but not for me! Jason took care of Riley all day...that included cleaining up poop from her crib...gotta love potty training! When he went to get her up he found her naked...she had taken off her one piece footy pj's, taken off her diaper, and there was poop all over her crib...fabulous! She started to undress (diaper included) tonight again after she pooped...I think that's a positive sign that potty training is starting to come full circle but that could mean some messy moments in the process. As for the potty training she has been doing great, but I still have felt like she's not totally ready. With the recent events along with her meltdown today...she saw one of her classmates big boy underwear in his cubby, got excited, went to use the potty, and then screamed when I put a pull up on her because she wanted big girl panties...I think we might be closer to being ready!

Back to Monday and sorry for the sidetrack on poop stories...that's just our life these days! After I got off work we headed to Kids Gone Wild as a family!

We called up the Habbestad's to meet us up there and then coincidentally ran into the Michel family as well so we had a big time jumping around...I told Jason before we left that I wasn't sure who would have more fun, him or Riley...I'm still not sure who did! She screamed when we left and he didn't but I think if he could have gotten away with it he just might have had his own meltdown!

Here's Jason playing Ring Around the Rosie with Logan and Riley!

This little girl went ninety to nothing the entire time we were there...it was a bit muggy inside perhaps due to the rainy day we had and her hair was curled up like I've never seen it...poor girl's going to be a victim to humidity just like her mama!

She had fun rolling around and tackling Logan!

Jason helping all the kids up the slide...he started playing with some older boys and I believe one of them called him a name that had the word poop or doodoo in it...gotta love boys!

Sliding down the big slide...Riley wanted to jump into her slide this time and sometimes she went down backwards!

We have begun the rainy season here in Cali and it has just been raining cats and dogs! I chuckled today as the entire 5:00 local news was about the rain and the one red cell that came over...they tracked that red cell like Arkansans track a tornado...haha!

I had great intentions of running a few errands after picking Riley up but we decided to come home instead...I mean after all there was a red cell storm out there!

We stayed dry and warm and pulled out all of her baby things to play with...she is one serious mama!

Sometimes she has trouble remembering that her baby toys are for her babies and not for her. She has more than once climbed in the crib only to have the bottom fall through and tonight she tried to give herself a bath in her baby's tub!

She is also VERY independent...she tried oh so hard to get her sock on her foot and I'll have you know she was successful.

She also was insistent about putting on her PJ bottoms herself tonight...she first tried to do it standing up and even made grunts of effort but just couldn't quite keep her balance and get her foot in so she said she needed to sit down. She ran to her bathroom and sat on the stool that helps her get up on the potty and at first stab she had both legs in one pant leg, but she figured it out and got them on all by herself...she really thinks through things and is persistent.

Hope you are all staying dry...we're supposed to have this rain for an entire week and it already started flooding today...but when we get rain Tahoe gets snow so we can't complain!

Jumping Bean

Now that our travels have winded down we have been getting back into a routine and it has been nice.

This past weekend we didn't have much planned, but it didn't take long before we were out and about. Overall it was a very relaxing weekend!

We ate at Outback with friends, went over to the Habbestad's for dinner, made it back to church after being gone so long, ate sushi, and I had a girls afternoon Sunday and went shopping in Sacramento!

Saturday when we were just hanging out around the house we had fun playing with some of Riley's new toys!

This book is an oldie but a goodie...she loves to read it!

"Papised"
I don't know who has more fun playing with Mrs. Potato Head...Riley or me!

She is one hip Mrs. Potato Head...don't you think?

She also played with some new puzzles...she knew most of her colors and had fun playing with her animal sound puzzle!

Making some sort of animal noise!

Monday was a great start to the week...I let Riley play hooky from school and I jumped out of the office for a few hours to meet up with her friends Logan and Maddie to try out a fun place called Kids Gone Wild!

It.Was.A.Blast!

Here's Riley...I have a feeling she's ordering Logan to do something!

Playing on the slide with Maddie!

Sliding with Maddie and Amanda or "Mena" as Riley calls her!

Me and my jumping bean!

All three of them had a blast jumping in this one play place...

They even had some wrestling matches going on!

Don't worry...Riley's a tough girl and she had her way with Logan!

All in a day's fun! We were only there for an hour but we were ALL exhausted...parents get to jump around too and I had just as much fun!

It was a nice break in my work day and Riley was balling when we had to leave...I think she may have had fun!

Tonight we actually had decent temps (in the 60's) so we decided to walk the dogs and let Riley ride her bike...the bike didn't last long before she wanted to hold the leashes for the dogs!

I wish I had my camera with me but I didn't...just picture the dogs walking so gently with Riley as she bossed them around...it was just precious!

Unfortunately she is battling a cold...she coughed in her sleep quite a bit last night and has one runny nose...she had a good day today despite all that and was a sweet girl when it came time for bedtime...she and I took turns kissing each other's cheek...love her!

Can we say Tahoe?

A few days before we left to come home from Texas Jason was itching to make a trip to Tahoe so he jumped on Priceline, found a great deal on hotel rooms, and booked the trip.

With my slightly Type A personality I was excited to go, but focusing on the whole unpacking and repacking within 24 hours thing...I am so thankful for Jason's spontaneity because let's just face it...life would be boring without it!

So we flew home Wednesday with 6 bags of luggage, a pack n play, and a carseat...thanks Nicki for picking us up with all our "stuff"...we were one less bag because Southwest decided to send Riley's bag to Ft. Lauderdale...slightly out of the way! They delivered it to our door the next night however so all was well!

We got home Wednesday evening and pretty much all hit the hay!

Thursday went like this...I worked, Tahoe battery was dead and Jason had to replace, had no food in the house so we ate out all day...after I was done with work we headed to Sports Chalet to buy all of our ski clothes because we had NONE, showed our babysitter and her brother how to take care of the dogs while we were gone, and rang in the New Year unpacking ALL of our luggage and repacking for Tahoe...whew what a day!

Friday we got up, loaded the truck and were on our way!

We were so fortunate to not run into any traffic and it was fun to see the change as we climbed the summit...starting to see a little snow!Then we saw more snow...I love how it looked covering the trees! The radio was claiming that they were requiring chains but they weren't really checking...comforting I know!

We have four wheel drive and all terrain tires so we were good but there were little Honda's going up with no chains and it really wasn't that bed...everyone just took it kinda slow!


Tada! Now we're seeing snow...it was so pretty!

We headed straight to the Heavenly Ski Resort to try and go up the mountain that afternoon but they were having high winds and everything was starting to shut down so we didn't make it up to ski that day!

Riley remembered these carved out animals from our first trip to Tahoe and she loved saying hi to them and playing in the snow!

Carefully examining the situation!

It's all good...she had this continuous desire to eat the snow...yuck!

Since we couldn't ski we decided to go tubing and sledding...the weather at the bottom of the mountain was fine so off we went!

We found this tube chute and took Riley on it a couple of times...she loved it!

Weeeee!

Family pic!

Me and my girl!

We had enough of tubing so we took our own sled to a local park and did some sledding!

So much fun with the snow spraying everywhere!

Riley, who is slightly independent, wanted to sled by herself on her belly...maybe next year sweetie!

After the sledding and tubing we grabbed an early dinner and headed to our hotel to get a good night's sleep...or so we thought...it was a rough night!

We still made it to meet some friends for breakfast the next morning by 7 and were riding up the gondola by 8...not too bad!

The Heavenly resort was SOOO nice and the views were breathtaking...here's where the gondola drops you off...lots of places to eat, play in the snow, etc. and you ride the lifts up from here to ski all over...half of the resort is in California and half is in Nevada!

They had an entire kids area up here and while Riley wasn't quite old enough to do some of the things she could do the sledding...we met a cute little boy Blake with his parents and the two of them sledded together for about an hour...Jason and I took turns skiing while the other one did sledding with Riley...here's a video of our sledding girl!

Thankfully the Bogart family was up at Tahoe the same weekend and they offered to watch Riley for a bit while Jason and I skied a few runs together...it was so much fun!

Here we are at the top...like I said the views were AMAZING!

Here I am getting ready to ski down...I am happy to report I had NO falls and jumped right into skiing even though it's been a few years!

Here's Jason at the top...he's a GREAT skier and even gets a little crazy now and then!

Riley loved just playing in the snow...this was her own little mountain that she would climb up and slide down!

After a fun morning of ski / snow time we were hungry and I was so proud of Riley...she had been so good considering the lack of sleep we all got.

She starting getting a little fussy and asked me to hold her in her...her way of asking to be held is saying "I want you"...so cute! I picked her up, she laid her head on my shoulder, and she was instantaneously asleep...my child has never done that before so she must have been one sleepy girl!

Her nap only lasted about 30 minutes and when she woke up she was not happy...she was still tired and couldn't get comfortable so I decided to take her back to the room and let Jason ski the afternoon.

She never went back to sleep and even showed me how she can get out of her pack 'n play...awesome! We just "rested" and watched Home Alone on tv...it was nice!

When Jason got done skiing we went to dinner with friends and called it a night...we all slept much better the second night...thank the Lord!

Sunday we got up early and headed to Sierra, a different ski resort, that had openings for childcare and had great military discounts! We put Riley in daycare for half day and Jason and I skied it up all morning!

Riley had a blast at daycare...they played on a Magic Carpet that pulls them around in the snow and they had a bounce house outside where she preferred to just sit and let everyone else bounce her..haha!

We picked her up and headed home and again had NO traffic which everyone tells us is unheard of! We had a blast and can't wait to go back!